If you’re a teen, it’s not too early to check your lifelong moles every month for signs of melanoma—especially if you’ve spent a lot of time over the years in the sun without sunscreen. You [...]
There is a rule of thumb for determining if you have too many moles – which of course, should be inspected monthly for any suspicious signs of melanoma, which is highly curable when caught early. [...]
“Yes, there is always a chance for ‘regression’ for both normal mole and melanoma,” says Dr. Tess Mauricio, MD, FAAD, a leading board certified dermatologist from Stanford University Medical School and CEO of MBeautyClinic.com. [...]
A red flag for melanoma is if you have a new mole that doesn’t look like your other moles, and if it’s a raised mole and all of your other moles are flat, this isn’t [...]
If you’re pregnant and notice a dark mole seemingly appear overnight, this could be a melanoma, but it could also be one of several types of benign tumors. “Pregnancy is a state of immune suppression; [...]
“Melanoma may look similar to an angioma, especially an amelanotic melanoma which are usually quickly growing pink or red bumps,” says Caroline A. Chang, MD, a board certified dermatologist and founder of the Rhode Island [...]
What appears to be a mole growing on top of another can be melanoma. “It would be rare but not impossible for one mole to grow within another mole,” says Estee Williams, MD, a board [...]
If you wait for nodular melanoma to go from flat to pencil eraser height before seeing a doctor, you could be dead a short time later. Nodular melanoma goes from zero to metastasis in zip [...]
Some melanoma mimickers are other forms of cancer, but most are benign. Many people will present to a doctor with what they fear is melanoma, when in fact, it turns out to be a benign [...]
At what point should you stop waiting and waiting and finally get a suspicious looking mole checked by a dermatologist? It’s easy to just say, “You know you should get that suspicious mole checked when [...]
The earlobe can be affected by all sorts of tiny bumps that can look like pimples, but bumps can also be caused by cancer: five kinds that have the potential to resemble pimples. One of [...]
The challenge with new earlobe bumps is that they’re difficult to closely inspect when doing a monthly skin cancer exam. The first thing you want to do is remove any hair from the ears, and [...]
The warning is real: A hard “pimple” that’s still there after a few months with no sign of going away may be a deadly cancer. "The most concerning things that can present in this manner [...]
A mole that appears to be elongating or stretching out may make you fear melanoma. So in an attempt to reassure yourself, you convince yourself that normal moles can be stretched permanently if the skin [...]
What makes the question of can melanoma grow inside a pimple even more confounding is that there are some melanomas that can easily pass for a typical pimple. Melanoma Growing Inside a Pimple “Melanomas and [...]
If you have a new mole or “spot” between your toes, do NOT blow it off as possible melanoma just because no sun gets between your toes. “Yes, melanomas can grow in areas that typically [...]
There are differences between melanomas that arise from existing moles and those that appear as brand new spots on skin where there’s no original mole. […]
Discovering black specks or dots on your nipple in the absence of pregnancy (which can cause this appearance) can be quite alarming. […]
There’s far more to knowing about the borders of a melanoma than what you think. First of all, a jagged border of a mole doesn’t always mean melanoma. There are many variables to consider when [...]
There is so much more to the “A” for asymmetry in the ABCDE guidelines for checking moles for melanoma signs. It's crucial to know that the concept of asymmetry can easily be open to a [...]
Some melanomas are flesh or pink in color; not always an “ugly black” or “scary brown.” So how can we spot a pinkish-beige melanoma during self-exams of the skin? “An amelanotic melanoma can appear pink [...]
Every time you see a picture of a melanoma, it’s either black, grey, some shade of brown, magenta, red, bluish, purple or pink, but never yellow. However, the color of yellow is absolutely possible in [...]
Doctors tell us to check our moles every month, but is it possible to see melanoma changes over a faster time period? It seems that we should check our skin perhaps every two weeks, if [...]
Over the course of just as month, about 50 new moles have appeared on your body. This brings to mind melanoma or the possibility that out of all those moles, at least a few will [...]
Okay, we all know that “black and ugly” describes melanoma, and online images show melanoma to be evil-looking, dark, jagged, bumpy, the whole works. But we must also consider that often, by the time a [...]
Unfortunately, among all those blackheads on your nose, chin or cheeks could be a very early melanoma slyly blending in and going unnoticed. If the new “blackhead” begins developing in an isolated area on your [...]
You’re absolutely sure that a mole that you’ve always had has suddenly gotten bigger and also turned reddish in a matter of a day or two. Melanoma or what can this be? […]
Those clusters of colorless moles on your face can also occur elsewhere on your body and have people worried that they’re a fast spreading cancer. They can definitely appear to be colorless moles – the [...]
A brown vertical stripe on a child’s fingernail that has never been there before is a worrisome sign that should immediately be checked out by a dermatologist, especially if the brown is in the cuticle [...]
Are you constantly worrying you have melanoma or will soon get it? Does your mind race with all sorts of scenarios of this cancer invading other parts of your body? […]
New moles over age 50: Have you figured out yet what to believe after googling all over creation about melanoma’s connection to new moles in older people? […]
Unfortunately you can get a lot of melanomas at the same time, says Dr. Jennifer Gordon, who is board certified by the American Board of Dermatology. “Sadly there is no limit,” affirms Dr. Gordon. “Once [...]
Why is the pencil eraser size so emphasized when many melanomas are so much smaller? Nearly every pamphlet on melanoma, and also just about every quoted dermatologist for a magazine or online article about melanoma, [...]
Have you discovered tiny moles growing in a cluster or groups on your skin and are fearing this could be a sign of melanoma? First off, one thing you need to make sure of is [...]
Yes, the light brown vertical line on your big toenail CAN be melanoma, says a dermatologist. So let’s say that you just noticed a light brown vertical line on your big toenail (or any nail, [...]
A new appearing dark spot on your lip can be melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, says a dermatologist. But a new appearing dark spot on the lip can have benign causes. The [...]
If that black spot on your lower lip is scaring you, a dermatologist explains four possible causes including cancer. Keep in mind that what appears to be black may actually be a deep dark purple, [...]
Yes, what appears to be a purple pimple that bleeds just might be melanoma... The term “pimple” is often used loosely, describing quite an array of bumps or tiny lesions on the skin. So what [...]
These four colors are just the tip of the iceberg. It helps to know what the most common colors are for the deadliest skin cancer, melanoma. Are there particular colors that melanoma skin [...]
A doctor explains the differences between a melanoma black line under the fingernail and a normal one. “Splinters or dark streaks under nails can occur when microscopic areas of bleeding happen and allow blood to [...]
